John Roberts | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament forSt. Paul's | |
| In office February 18, 1980 – September 3, 1984 | |
| Preceded by | Ron Atkey |
| Succeeded by | Barbara McDougall |
| In office July 8, 1974 – May 21, 1979 | |
| Preceded by | Ron Atkey |
| Succeeded by | Ron Atkey |
| Member of Parliament forYork—Simcoe | |
| In office June 25, 1968 – October 29, 1972 | |
| Preceded by | Riding established |
| Succeeded by | Sinclair Stevens |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Moody Roberts (1933-11-28)November 28, 1933 |
| Died | March 30, 2007(2007-03-30) (aged 73) Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Profession | University professor |
John Moody Roberts,PC (November 28, 1933 – March 30, 2007) was a Canadianpolitician. He was aLiberalMember of Parliament for 13 years interspersed between 1968 and 1984. He was a member of cabinet in the government ofPierre Trudeau.
Roberts was born inHamilton, Ontario and grew up inToronto, Ontario. He taughtPolitical Science andPublic Administration atConcordia University inMontreal, Quebec andBrock University inSt. Catharines, Ontario. He was also a visiting fellow atOxford University in theUnited Kingdom.
He was elected to theHouse of Commons of Canada in 1968 as aLiberalMember of Parliament (MP) for the riding ofYork—Simcoe.[1] He was defeated in the1972 federal election but returned in1974.[2][3] From1974 to1984 (defeated in1979 and re-elected in1980), he was MP for the riding ofSt. Paul's in Toronto.[4][5]
He was a junior cabinet minister in his role as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Regional Economic Expansion from 1971 to 1972. In 1976, he was appointedSecretary of State for Canada inPrime MinisterPierre Trudeau'scabinet. Roberts lost his seat again in the1979 election in which the Trudeau government was defeated.
He was returned to the House yet again as a result of the1980 election, and joined Trudeau's final cabinet, first asMinister of the Environment, Minister of State for Science and Technology and then asMinister of Employment and Immigration. As Canadian environment minister in the early 1980s he faced off with the US government over the cross-border issue ofacid rain at a time when theReagan Administration was denying its existence. Roberts led a strong public information campaign on both sides of the border that, at one point, resulted in the US justice department officially branding aNational Film Board of Canada documentaryAcid from Heaven as "foreign country propaganda". The campaign is credited with ultimately leading to a bilateral accord on acid rain being signed later in the decade.[6]
Roberts ran to succeed Trudeau at the1984 Liberal leadership convention, coming in fourth behindJohn Turner. Turner kept Roberts in his cabinet as Minister of Employment and Immigration. Roberts and Turner's government were defeated in the1984 election.[7] An attempt to return to parliament in 1988, this time fromOntario riding (Pickering), was unsuccessful.[8]
After retiring from academic life he returned toToronto, living near the area ofYorkville. Roberts led the Canadian delegation to the1998 Lisbon World Exposition (Expo 98) in Portugal and which lasted from May 22 to September 30, 1998. He died of a heart attack in 2007.
There is a John Robertsfonds atLibrary and Archives Canada.[9]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
